Briefs - Religious

RICHMOND - The world's Christian population grew by about 326 million during the past decade to an estimated 1.75 billion, says a noted expert on religious statistics.

The Rev. David Barrett, an Anglican priest, editor of the World Christian Encyclopedia and now a consultant to the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board, cited the figures in the International Bulletin of Missionary Research.

The new total amounts to about 33 percent of the world's 5.3 billion people, including 963 million Roman Catholics, 324 million Protestants, 180 million Eastern Orthodox and 54 million Anglicans, the ecumenical fortnightly, Christianity Today, reports.